


Pas De Deux, in Three Parts

by PFDiva



Series: Secret Chord [1]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, FatT Rarepair Swap, M/M, Multi, all these words, apistolisian mariage headcanons, because if who I am as a person, so much emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 14:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14771333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PFDiva/pseuds/PFDiva
Summary: Addax Dawn and Jace Rethal marry Sokrates as a favor, but things turn out to be harder than Sokrates ever expected.





	Pas De Deux, in Three Parts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [merthurlin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merthurlin/gifts).



> I tried really hard and I hope you like it!

"Euanthe, this is stupid," Sokrates complained as eir sibling helped em into eir wedding garb. Which was over-produced, heavy, and hot enough to make a person scream.

"If I was single, it'd be me," Euanthe unsympathetically replied, "And stop with all the cursed wiggling--it just makes it take longer."

Sokrates defiantly went limp. This forced Euanthe to maneuver Sokrates' clothing around on em without eir help. Euanthe pretended not to notice, choosing to tighten eir clothing uncomfortably. Sokrates straightened up and stopped acting like a child, but ey didn't have to _like_ it.

"I don't have time to get married! We have a demarchy to manage, a planet to look after, and a funeral to plan!"

"If you don't have time to get married, you _really_ don't have time for the more conservative members of parliament to overthrow you in an attempt to reinstate me. Or did _you_ want to try piloting Apokine?"

Sokrates felt the color drain out of eir face, and Integrity responded to eir distress by poking out of eir collar to protectively hover around eir head. Just in case ey wanted their head covered. Euanthe looked grimly satisfied.

"I thought not."

It wasn't fair, Sokrates reflected, willing Integrity back so that Euanthe could finish fighting em into eir wedding regalia. This was really stupid. If it were up to Sokrates, the objecting parliament members would be getting jettisoned into space. Fortunately for them, Euanthe's cooler head had prevailed and Sokrates, in the Apokine position of the Demarchy, was getting married.

"And you're sure they're not being coerced?" Sokrates asked, adjusting the hot as fucking hell robe so that it didn't chafe against eir gills. It wrecked the styling of the decorative drapey thing Sokrates still refused to learn the name of, but these were the sacrifices one made for comfort.

"They volunteered," Euanthe assured em for the fifth time, adjusting the drapey thing back into place against Sokrates' gills. "Both of them. They're heroes of the Golden War, Sokrates. They look better in all of this than you do."

Jace Rethal and Addax Dawn. They'd suddenly come out of the woodwork shortly after Cassander found the mech Apokine. They worked with Executive Joie, but Sokrates was and had been too busy on Apostalos to worry about what Counterweight or Weight were up to. Ey hadn't been avoiding eir old friends. Not em.

When the Apostolisian parliament began making noises about the necessity for the Apokine to be wed, both had offered for Sokrates' hand in marriage. It had been a huge public thing, flashily dramatic and pretty much everything Sokrates might have hoped a marriage proposal could be.

Parliament hastily attempted to backpedal. They wanted Sokrates wed to a few good Apostolisians, and if said good Apostolisians happened to be related to members of parliament, it was all just fortunate coincidence, right? Yeah right.

Unfortunately for parliament, the people of both Apostolos and Counterweight seemed to love the idea. Heroes of the Golden War getting married in the wake of the Rigger Wars? The fairytales wrote themselves.

Sokrates just wished eir friends hadn't been pushed into it. Ey had been nursing a sad little crush on the power couple for a very long time There was no room for Sokrates between them. There never had been.

That didn't stop Sokrates from accepting the proposal, if only to make eir parliament choke. Ey didn't have to be a part of Jace and Addax's relationship. Ey could enjoy proximity to it. Which was incredibly sad and pathetic, but Sokrates had come to terms with emself.

Either way, Sokrates walked out of eir dressing room as if assured that this was what everyone wanted, what everyone had chosen. Because they were in love. Not because they were forced into it by stupid parliaments or the bonds of friendship.

Jace and Addax were both already waiting for Sokrates in the center of the temple, their respective sections of the audience fanned out behind them for Sokrates to see. Executive Joie and her wife were in there with a tired-looking Orth and Cassander's hilarious friend in the obnoxious clothing. The friend was rather twitchier than Sokrates remembered, but that was only to be expected. The sight of all the familiar faces made Sokrates' chest ache. Ey missed Cassander so much.

In Sokrates' section of the temple were Euanthe, the parliament, and many people it was politically important to invite. Few friends. So few friends these days. But because it was only the three of them, instead of the expected six, there was more space to spread out the guests. So there had to be more guests. It was a pain, but political needs demanded it.

Sokrates wasn't thinking about that right now though. Ey were thinking about Jace and Addax at the center of the temple. Both looked incredible. They'd aged well. Jace's frothy dark curls were highlighted by silver, smile lines carved into his animated face. Addax had a reassuring smile for Sokrates, patches of silver ruining the symmetry of his close-cropped hair and showing up brightly against his darker skin. Sokrates resisted the urge to sigh wistfully over these gorgeous men.  
They might not love em, but Sokrates could still look.

The officiant at the center of the temple turned to Sokrates first. The officiant's purpose was to let the attendees know who was making a pledge, and to whom they were making their pledges. It was a necessary function in Apostolisian wedding ceremonies, which could have up to six people getting married at once.

In six-person ceremonies, each person had to make five individual pledges; one to each of their partners-to-be. After the individual pledges came pair pledges where the person making their pledges divided five people into groups of two until they'd pledged to each pair that could be made. Next were pledges in groups of three. The ceremony could last for hours.

The fact that there were only 3 of them getting married today meant that each person only had to make 2 individual pledges and 1 pair pledge. Sokrates made eir individual pledges first. Ey were the Apokine of the Demarchy, after all. Ey had seniority, as it were.

The trio had decided that Sokrates should pledge to Jace first, and then Addax. Jace wanted his vows bookended by Sokrates and Addax's, and Addax didn't mind going last.

Loyalty, honesty, honor, kindness; Sokrates pledged all of this to Jace and more, doing eir best not to trip over eir words. It was expected that Sokrates would write these kinds of things into eir vows. If ey happened to also mean the words, well that was neither here nor there.

It was harder than ey had expected. Jace looked so pleased. He'd already heard Sokrates' pledge. There had been so much practice and staging. It wasn't a surprise. Sokrates couldn't understand why Jace was so happy. Like it wasn't all politics.

Sokrates sealed the pledge by steeping closer and pressing a kiss to Jace's cheek. Jace's brows furrowed with brief confusion. Sokrates pretended not to see. A kiss on the cheek was quite acceptable. Especially in marriages where one or more of the partners were sexually incompatible.

Sokrates made the same pledge to Addax. Almost the same. Sokrates had to adjust the words to suit eir relationship with Addax, but the message was the same. Addax made it no easier than Jace had. Instead of looking pleased, Addax smiled like he could see straight through Sokrates to the sincerity of eir words. Only the time spent practicing saved Sokrates from embarrassment.

When ey stepped forward to seal the pledge, Addax's hand cupped eir elbow. It was a gentle, intimate sort of gesture.

Sokrates decided that the gesture had to look good on camera. There was no other reason Addax would do such a thing. The heat of Addax's touch lingered long after Addax let go, which he only did reluctantly.

The officiant turned to Jace next, who pledged to Sokrates. Loyalty, honor, kindness. Love. Sokrates didn't expect that and lowered eir gaze. Ey'd told Jace and Addax to keep it to the basics, but Jace had changed his vows at the last minute. Sokrates wouldn't cry. Ey couldn't.

Jace's shoes clicked closer over the tile and when Sokrates looked up, he cupped eir face in one hand and pulled em in for a kiss. It was closed-mouthed and chaste, but more than enough to set Sokrates' blood aflame.

Jace's kiss left Sokrates stunned. Ey couldn't help but lift eir fingers to eir lips as Jace returned to his spot. He noticed and winked, causing a ripple of fond amusement from those who could see Jace's silliness.

Sokrates missed most of Jace's pledge to Addax. Ey should have been paying attention. Jace probably changed the words to Addax to. Ey couldn't care. Sokrates could find out what Jace said later. Someone would record it.

Ey didn't miss it when Jace sealed his pledge to Addax. Jace crossed the small distance to loop his arms around Addax's neck in a blatantly familiar gesture. Addax obligingly bent down and they shared a blistering kiss. When they separated, Addax looked like he'd been smacked by Peace and Jace looked smug. He didn't swagger back to his place, but there was definite swagger in the motion. Sokrates tried and failed to not to be jealous.

Addax managed to shake off his stupor by the time the officiant turned to him. The passion in his voice shocked Sokrates all over again. Ey had to remember Addax and Jace were doing this to make it look good, to make it look convincing to the audience. If it felt convincing to em as well, that was eir own fault.

He sealed the pledge by catching Sokrates by the elbow and pulling himself closer. Sokrates presented eir cheek for the expected kiss. Addax waited until Sokrates looked at him.

Addax was a little shorter than Sokrates, but broader. This close, Sokrates could see the shades of brown in Addax's eyes. But, then again, ey had always known he was beautiful.

Addax pointedly pressed a chaste kiss to eir lips, his smile saying something Sokrates wasn't sure ey understood. This...really wasn't necessary. The words, yes, but not the loving looks. Addax wasn't usually cruel like this. Nor was Jace. What were the two of them playing at?

Sokrates listened to eir heart pound in eir chest while Addax pledged to Jace. Ey watched Addax enfold Jace in his arms for a small, tender, teasing kiss. It was far too intimate for this ceremony, but clearly neither of them cared. They loved each other so much.

Eir thoughts circled their head at high, strange speed while Addax pledged patience, understanding, and affection to Sokrates and Jace both. Mostly it was for Jace. It had to be. Still, Sokrates stepped forward when he and Jace were supposed to, holding out his hand for Addax to take, mirroring Jace.

Addax lifted both their hands to his lips at the same time, kissing their fingers. Sokrates flinched, wanting to snatch eir hand away and not daring. Jace's pinky briefly curled about eir own and ey couldn't take it.

He was supposed to lift their hands to his forehead. That was how it was supposed to be done for political marriages, arranged marriages, marriages with no love in them. Sokrates managed to blink back tears long enough to retreat to eir place once Addax let em go, only for Jace to repeat Addax's gesture, kissing both their hands.

Sokrates could barely school eir voice to calmness by the time it was eir turn to pledge to both other people. Ey meant to lift Addax and Jace's hands to eir forehead, show the pair how it was supposed to be done, but ey ended up clutching their hands to eir chest. Jace looked touched. Addax's expression was a combination of shock and delight. Sokrates was terrified they'd understand, but too disoriented to prevaricate, even by eir actions.

When they all returned to their respective places, the officiant pronounced them wedded and everyone applauded. Then came the irritating part: politics. At least Sokrates was no long in danger of bawling eir eyes out.

Jace and Addax had changed since Sokrates had known them. Addax was less idealistic and Jace was more confident. Sokrates wondered how ey had changed in eir new spouses' eyes. Hopefully for the better.

In spite of the politics, Sokrates enjoyed the wedding celebration. Ey'd forgotten how much ey enjoyed spending time with Jace and Addax. Jace thought Sokrates was hilarious and Addax was a clever and reassuring support, bolstering Sokrates when eir courage failed.

Sokrates wasn't even nervous about leading Jace and Addax to the wedding suite at the end of the night. They'd be kind about how everyone could spend the wedding week. And the lovers had already had plenty of time with each other alone. Sokrates wasn't likely to end up spending _all_ of eir time alone.

The wedding suite was an enormous, six-tiered space with steps leading from the outermost edge down into the center.

The top tier, which the three of them entered onto, contained six large, comfortable chairs. Each chair had a small end table and a lamp, as well as a footrest and a blanket. It was meant to be a decompression space. Sokrates took a seat while Addax prowled around. Jace leaned his hip against the arm of Sokrates' chair.

"This is a _hell_ of a wedding suite, Sokrates."

"It's made for six people. Most stuff in my culture is--you know that."

Jace sighed and leaned more heavily on Sokrates' chair, his elbow on Sokrates' shoulder, "Yeah, but I expected there to be beds. If only for sleeping."

"They're down a few levels."

Jace gestured at the bookshelves and wardrobes that populated the next few tiers, blocking their view of the lower levels. Sokrates' response was dry.

"I'm sorry, were you hoping to show off your naked ass to the servants bringing you food?"

"Okay, point."

"There's three beds down there--so there's lot of space for all of us."

"Only three?"

Sokrates shrugged. "None of them are big enough to hold six people at once. That's a lot of hassle anyway."

"Personal experience?" Sokrates started to make a joke, but when ey looked up, Jace was seductively curved in towards em, something that could have been interest glittering out from beneath half-closed lids.

Sokrates about swallowed eir tongue.

Saints preserve em, Jace was beautiful. What had he and Addax gotten up to that this conversation produced such a response? Sokrates would almost certainly never know.

"No," Sokrates finally managed to croak out, "I've never….no." Motion beyond Jace caught Sokrates attention. Ey refrained from breathing a sigh of relief. "Addax is back."

"It's a circle," Addax declared, leaning over Jace to look at Sokrates. Sokrates eeled out of the chair to minimize the weight of both men staring at em.

"The suite is centered on the bath at the bottom," Sokrates explained, putting the chair between em and the other men. "So it's all circles all the way down."

"And there's beds down there somewhere," Jace added, tipping his head back against Addax's shoulder. Addax sniggered.

"Were there? I only found couches."

"That's the gathering area for gaming, watching movies, that sort of thing," Sokrates was quick to interject, desperate to get off the topic of beds.

"Ey says they're not big enough for six people?"

Addax gave Sokrates an appraising look as he responded, "I bet they're big enough for three."

Sokrates laughed nervously, turning away from eir new spouses, "Let me show you the rest of the suite." When did Addax get so flirty? When did Jace? Sokrates didn't know, but ey also didn't look to see if the pair followed. They were clearly ready to get to the consummation part of the wedding. Sokrates should show them where they could do that. And where Sokrates would be when they were done with each other.

The gaming section was on the third tier down from the top, between the bookshelves on the second tier and the wardrobes on the fourth. As promised, it had couches, games, and all sorts of media ranging from books to immersive VR novels. This time, Jace peeled off to explore, leaving Sokrates and Addax alone together. Sokrates shook eir head in amusement and gestured down the stairs, "The last levels are down here."

Addax followed Sokrates down another flight, then whistled appreciatively as the beds came into view below them. Each of the three beds was canopied and large enough to hold maybe four people? Sokrates had never tested them out. What ey was personally excited about was the massive bath just visible in the center of the room, bringing up the humidity on the closest levels. It was nice.

"Those beds are enormous," Addax marveled.

"Yeah. The idea is supposed to be that relationships are malleable and some people have lower libidos or aren't into the same sorts of thing, so there's space to move around or away from anything that doesn't interest you."

Addax was giving Sokrates that appraising look again, "Do you have a low libido?"

"Ha!" Sokrates laughed before ey could stop emself. "I wish!"

"Oh good," purred Addax, stepping closer to Sokrates. In spite of the height difference, Addax still somehow managed to loom. The look on his face...Sokrates held up a hand, planting it against Addax's chest, stopping his forward motion. Addax looked confused and Sokrates was getting angry.

"Don't do this. I'm grateful to you and Jace for making this marriage better than it could have been, but you don't have to put on a show when it's just us."

Addax's brows furrowed, his expression demanding a better explanation. So Sokrates gave it.

"I know you and Jace proposed to get me out of a tight spot with parliament, and I really appreciate it. They can't _really_ make me do this, but they've got lots of money and clout and it would just make things too difficult to fight them on it when I've got bigger problems to worry about."

"Sokrates--" Addax tried to interrupt, sounding as exasperated as he looked, but Sokrates talked over him, not wanting to hear it.

"I'm not upset about marrying you two--you're my friends and I trust you both more than the snakes I was probably going to end up with. They would have been good Apostolisians the way I'm not. I probably would have been pressured to produce heirs and before you know it, nothing's changed. So I'm grateful. I even get all the….everything at the ceremony--you have to make it look good for the cameras. But there's none here, and neither of you are being fair to me with all this fake flirting. It's not like you and it's not okay."

At some point, Addax's expression had gotten stormy. "Are you quite done?"

"Don't be like this," Sokrates sighed, suddenly tired, "We're all adults here. We can handle a political marriage together. Maybe in a few years, I'll find someone who wants me, and then you won't have to worry about me."

"Someone who wants you?" Addax demanded, disbelief ringing heavy in his voice.

Sokrates yelped his offense, "You don't have to sound _that_ surprised! I'm not much to look at by human standards, but I'm alright by Apostolisian ones."

"That's not what I--" Addax scrubbed at his face with his hand, then bellowed up at the level above them, "Jace!"

"What?" Jace seemed to be halfway around the room, his voice rather distant.

"I need you down here!"

"Just a minute!"

Sokrates groaned as Addax called Jace down to join them, "Addax, what are you doing?"

"Jace needs to hear this."

"What does Jace need to hear?" asked Jace, hopping down from the level above. He was lucky he didn't break his ankles, but luck probably had nothing to do with it.

"Has ey told you why ey thinks we proposed?" Addax demanded.

Jace's expression went confused and a bit wary, "No…?"

Sokrates scrubbed at eir face, "Addax…"

"Sokrates."

"What am I missing here?" Jace stood between Sokrates and Addax, watching the conversational ball hop from one to the other without settling on an explanation. Sokrates was the one who finally relented.

"I was just telling Addax he didn't have to pretend to be my lover when it's just us. I know the two of you proposed as a kindness to get me out of a jam." Jace stared at Sokrates with a blank incomprehension.

"This isn't a real marriage," Sokrates explained, feeling less and less like ey were explaining, and more like ey were whining, "I'm not going to get between you two." Jace turned his expression of blank incomprehension on Addax. Addax threw up his hands in frustration.

"Ey didn't get this idea from _me!_ "

Sokrates was finally beginning to realize that there was something going on here that ey didn't understand.

"This...this _is_ a fake marriage, isn't it? Just to hold my parliament over? Keep them off my back?"

"It wasn't supposed to be," Jace said.

"No," said Addax at the same time.

The pair exchanged a glance, then Jace continued his explanation.

"It was supposed to be our chance. We've been trying to figure out how we could be a part of your life again since we found each other. But you're leader of the Golden Branch Demarchy."

"We're nobodies," Addax grumbled.

"Not nobody," Jace objected, "But definitely not worthy of an Apostolisian princex. Even if the monarchy is technically no more."

Addax took up the explanation at that point, "Then we started noticing all these Apostolisian thinkpieces about how in the wake of your sibling's passing, there's no heir, there needs to be more tradition Just a lot of horrible things that we figured you hated." He wasn't wrong and Sokrates didn't know how to feel about being known that well.

"Plus, there was a legitimate danger of you getting dragooned into marriage with someone who would veto any chance of either of us being with you."

"So we decided to propose," Jace continued, "Publicly, to stave off whatever the parliament was attempting."

"And since there's two of us, it holds more weight," Addax said.

"Addax did a lot of research," Jace said.

"I did. We intended to give you a few months worth of negotiations to find other partners, then we'd gracefully bow out, maybe claiming we had second thoughts about Apostolisian marriage, or that the dynamic wasn't right amongst us all."

"But then you said yes. No negotiation, no confused messages, just yes." Jace's tone lightened with remembered hope.

"And you gave no sign of objecting," Addax said.

"We really were trying to be so careful," Jace said.

Addax gave Sokrates a sad, sympathetic look, "And then you were so strange at the wedding."

"I thought you were just being politic," Jace added with a pained grimace.

"But I got to worrying you felt coerced," Addax explained, "I was going to check in between the wedding and the reception."

"But there was literally no time you were alone enough to ask."

"And it was _fun_ again."

Jace wistfully sighed, "Like old times, but with less danger."

"And now you're saying you thought it was a sham this whole time?"

Sokrates felt cornered, listening to Addax and Jace talk over each other, finishing each other's thoughts and sentences. About em. _Em!_

"...you meant everything?"

Addax reached out a hand for Sokrates, stopping short before touching em. Sokrates stared at the hand, feeling dizzy. Like the world was spinning and Addax's hand was the center of that spiral. After a short eternity, ey lifted eir gaze to Addax's face. Addax nodded reassuringly. Sokrates placed eir hand in Addax's. Slowly, deliberately, Addax lifted Sokrates' hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across eir knuckles.

"Ahem." Sokrates looked away from Addax to find Jace holding out his hand as well. Jace had a winning smile on his face and Sokrates let out a watery laugh before placing eir free hand into Jace's.

"I never thought," Sokrates began, before finally dissolving into the sobs ey'd been holding back all day. Addax pulled em closer and by the time Sokrates was done, ey were sandwiched between the two men, eir face buried in Addax's chest, Jace warm against eir back. Ey felt overheated and surrounded and loved.


End file.
